


Floating On Air

by scy



Category: Lucifer (Comic)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-01
Updated: 2010-01-01
Packaged: 2017-10-05 14:44:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scy/pseuds/scy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The grandmothers told Elaine to only trust children and monsters. They probably wouldn't have agreed with her interpretation of their advice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Floating On Air

**Author's Note:**

> At the end of Children and Monsters, Lucifer told Elaine to wait for him.

It was seconds before sunset when the devil returned to where he'd left her to wait for him. Since Elaine didn't have a timepiece on her, there was no way of judging how long she'd been sitting there, but she guessed that awhile was a good enough estimate.

He had told her to wait, and when the other options were offered, his offer was by far the most interesting.

She'd only met a few angels, so their manner of appearing in mid-air, coming down as though they'd been flying on a plane where humans couldn't see them hadn't lost its novelty, but even so, she hadn't watched Michael- her father rise into the air.

He'd been perceptive enough to realize that she wasn't going anywhere with him despite the fact that her lineage might have been neatly explained in the short while spent in his company. Angels seemed way too full of their own importance; Sandolphon, who thought he was creating a race of celestial beings, only wanted to get back at Heaven and didn't care about who got caught up in his experiments, and the crowd that had been standing around and staring at the devil as though he was well, evil incarnate, hadn't seemed much better.

Not like the devil; he had stopped Sandolphon and helped Elaine and Michael. She wasn't naive enough to think that he didn't have a few reasons of his own, but so far, he'd done exactly what he'd told her he would. That put him up above every adult who had ever tried to tell her that they knew how to take care of her, and therefore she needed to sit down and keep quiet. One moment she was being praised for her maturity and the next the same school official wanted to give her a lecture on responsibility and how to handle her life. The exception to the rule had come across her partly because of a botched summoning ritual.

The grandmothers had told her not to try and call on him; that the devil would shrivel her up as soon as answer her, but they'd also told her to trust only children and monsters. Even Grandma Furness, who thought that spells could solve any mess that the laws of the living couldn't set right had chided her when she had tried to summon up someone with enough real power to give her information.

It wasn't that she didn't believe Grandma Furness when she said that the devil was just as bad as his reputation implied; her perspective was just a little more open to interpretation. After all, she saw the dead and read people's thoughts and she was the daughter of an archangel, that was all fairly unusual, to say, as she preferred, very little on the subject.

She looked down at the night-dark ball that was her grandmothers and waited for the Devil to return.

As he returned, she imagined that she could feel the air charge as it was displaced by his arrival. His expression was difficult to read and Elaine restrained the urge to try and look at his mind. Somehow she had the feeling that such prying wouldn't be tolerated. Indeed, he seemed to be aware of her decision and he raised an eyebrow and waited as she scrambled up. Under his scrutiny she brushed off the dust from Sandolphon's pocket dimension so that she felt slightly more presentable.

"Are you ready to return to England?"

"Yes." Despite her answer she couldn't help looking around at the strange city. She had seen Los Angeles in movies, but this unintentional trip was the first time she'd left England.

He noticed her curiosity but didn't comment on it.

"You live here?"

"This is the place where I built Lux."

Elaine looked down at the ground and then at their surroundings, trying to figure out what had been in the space before it had been destroyed.

"What's Lux?"

"A piano bar."

She knew her expression was confused. "I thought that the devil was supposed to live in Hell."

"Everyone needs a change in scenery."

"The angels tore this place down? Will you be able to rebuild it?"

"It should prove simple."

"Maybe you should have a fortress or something this time."

"I doubt the Host would pick up on the hint."

Since the first angel she'd met had been using her to make an army and thought that killing her was just a disagreeable detail, Elaine could believe that other angels didn't pause to consider anyone else when they had a greater cause to pursue.

"In the meantime, it's almost certain you'll be missed."

She knew who he was talking about and felt a surge of rebellion. "They aren't my real parents," Elaine replied, testing the words out to see how they sounded.

He gave her another look and this time Elaine was able to translate it.

"I know, it's not like Michael can take care of me, I'm sure he's got a lot of stuff to take care of."

That apparently signaled a final decision, and Lucifer put his hand out.

Grandma Furness would have advised against it, but he had done right by her before, and he took his promises seriously, so she rested her fingers carefully on his palm. When he didn't immediately leap into the air, Elaine relaxed her fingers so that they were holding hands. Whatever line Elaine had been standing opposite of, with their hands clasped she felt as though she had stepped across it.

Without hesitating, he swung her up in the air and she came down to land in his arms. In this position she was able to wrap an arm around his neck and hold on. He didn't object to her clutching at him and adjusted his hold on her and then took flight.

She would have liked to ask him how it felt to fly, but thought the question might sound silly. One inquiry she felt was reasonable escaped her. "How do you fly around without being seen by anyone?"

While he didn't look down, he answered. "Mortals don't often allow themselves to see past what they understand. Those who do aren't easily encouraged to share their insights."

Thinking of how only Mona knew that she could see the dead, and she'd found out once she was a ghost herself, Elaine agreed that it was uncommon for someone who had an exceptional ability to expose their talent. She leaned more firmly into Lucifer's chest and rested her head against him.

Even though they were flying very high, Elaine was having no trouble breathing and could just barely feel the brush of air moving around them. The devil might have wings like an angel but he chose to make his own way.

There was no need to direct him to her school; he had found her in the past, he would know the way. She let herself nestle closer and closed her eyes.

After what she guessed was only a few minutes, they landed on the roof of her building. Elaine didn't know what time it was; there were students on the grounds, but they seemed subdued.

Not sparing a glance for her classmates mingling below, the devil touched down and with a last flap of his wings, set her gently on the rooftop and stepped back.

As she steadied herself, Elaine ran a hand surreptitiously over one of his wings. He caught her at it and as his wings snapped upwards, she moved back, feeling as though she'd been trespassing.

"A modicum of consideration might be appropriate when taking such liberties," Lucifer said, but his voice was mild, rolling through the air with a laziness that had been absent when he threatened the angels.

"I'm sorry, it's just that I've never seen or felt anything like that. All the pictures of angels in books don't give you any idea of what flying is actually like, and I was just curious." She added more politely, "May I?"

"This has the potential to descend to the level of side show gawking, but yes, you may."

Lowering her hand, Elaine laid it on the brilliant white feathers. They were soft like down, but looked much sturdier. She ran her palm along the curve of one wing and looked up at Lucifer. He was watching her and she smiled widely. "They're gorgeous."

For the moment he seemed to be tolerant of her interest and Elaine couldn't fight back a delighted look when he dipped low enough for her to run a hand over his wings again.

At such a small distance, Elaine could better see his eyes. They were a shade of gold that looked like flames that would burn no matter what obstacles were erected to stop them. It was a consuming flame, she decided, that glowed hotter than the midday sun when he was angry. But now his gaze was smoldering instead of searing, and she felt safe.

"Thanks for the bringing me back, Matt and Barbara would worry about me, and you're right, they're who I've got for parents."

"Their regard for you is a known quantity."

"So what you're saying is that I should make the best of it?"

His shrug was largely uninformative and she frowned up at him. "What?"

"I'm not one to tell you what choices you should make, that's a matter of free will."

Elaine had taken Bible study and wasn't ignorant of what his history said about breaking free of predestination and the expectations of others. But he wasn't going to give her guidebook and steer her out off the route she'd been traveling on, that was something she had to do on her own and she appreciated the attitude even if it was momentarily frustrating.

"Alright, thanks again." She didn't want him to leave and wracked her brain for anything that would hold him to her for longer. "When will I see you again?"

"I'm sure that we will meet soon enough."

"Wait, one more thing, if I need help, what should I call you?"

"Lucifer."

She repeated his name and thought to herself that it would be much easier to listen for that than a title or some word that could be confused with the chatter of the rest of the world. Lucifer was just unique enough that if she pictured him and tuned out all other distractions, she would be able to follow the sound to wherever he was.

"Thanks again, for everything. Lucifer." She paused deliberately before saying his name and in turn, he didn't bow to her, but gave every impression of formally taking his leave.

"Goodbye, Elaine Belloc."

"It's Elaine," she called after him, and knew, just by the way he banked to one side over the next street, that he'd heard her. She smiled and turned to head downstairs.


End file.
